How to Grow Turnips
My first piece of advice is, “Don’t grow them – you’ll have to eat them.” If you get past that and still want turnips – then, I’m your girl.
Turnips have 2 edible portions: The root and the tops.
Turnip Roots –
The turnip itself is quite the vegetable. Folks avoiding carbs eat these roasted, mashed and boiled in place of potatoes. Turnips are a good source of Vitamin B6, folate, calcium, vitamin C, copper & potassium. They are low in saturated fat, low in cholesterol and a great source of dietary fiber.
Turnip Tops (the greens) –
Turnip greens are crazy high in vitamin K. They also provide vitamin A (beta-carotene), manganeese, copper, folate, vitamin C, calcium, vitamin E, vitamin B6 and dietary fiber. The contain potassium, vitamin B2, iron, phosphorus, riboflavin, thiamin and pantothenic acid.
Turnip greens are low in saturated fat, low in cholesterol and even provide protein.
Read more about the nutrition of turnips: Source
Growing turnips is easy.
I always end up with 2000 more turnips than I want because they can survive on concrete, without dirt, water or sun. I’m kidding…. but I do think that if Armageddon hits all that will be left are roaches and turnips.
Another thing about turnips- They make a great cover crop.
Quick Cover Crop Lesson:
Cover crops are planted during dormant seasons or rest periods in fields or gardens. Sowing some seeds as a cover crop will prevent your soil from washing away during rainy seasons. It will retain moisture, reduce weeds, prevent compaction and even improve your soil. Planting cover crops like turnips or radishes adds important nutrients to the soil (like nitrogen) and increases the organic matter.
These turnips will live here over winter as a cover crop for this bed
Farmers are even using radishes & turnips to break up hard-pan (compacted soil). Root vegetable have a long taproot that penetrates deep into the soil. After the root vegetable is harvested or even if it is left in the ground to compost, it creates much needed soil channels. This allows rain and minerals to travel deeper into the ground.
Although, turnips are not one of my favorite foods, turnip greens are another story entirely.
Perfect Southern Turnip Greens— Mmm
Glorious, marvelous, perfect turnip greens. I like them small. I like them huge. I like them Sam I am.
This is why I always toss a few handfuls of turnip seeds in my bare beds in September and wait for the bountiful turnip harvest in late fall.
How to Grow Turnips
The less palatable veggies are always the easiest to grow. I suppose the bugs & diseases don’t like turnips either.Turnips love cool weather. You can sow turnip seeds directly in your garden in early spring (April/ May in Kentucky) or late summer (August/ September around Kentucky).
Turnips are a root vegetable (like carrots and radishes).
To plant the seeds, simply weed the garden area, hoe and rake. Sprinkle the seeds over the dirt and use a metal rake to “rake” them into the soil. You want the seeds to go about 1/2 inch deep.
Once the seeds are in, just water them and they will go gang-busters on you. I am in the middle of a drought here and nothing is growing and everything is dying… except for the turnips – looking at them would give you no clue that we haven’t had rain in almost a month.
You will probably need to thin out your baby turnips. Especially if you tossed a handful of seeds in the garden bed like I did. For the biggest turnips thin them so all your turnips are 3-4 inches apart.
40-50 days after planting you may want to check on them. As horrible as I think turnips are, I will say that they are less horrible when they are young and tender.
A massive amount of turnips taking over my kitchen
3 ways to store Turnips (or any root vegetable).
These storage methods will also work for any root vegetable including: beets, carrots, radishes and parsnips.
- To store in root cellar: Dig them up and cut off the tops, leave about 2 inches of stems. Do not cut off the tap root. Brush off dirt – do not wash. Store in plastic container or wooden box with damp sand, peat or moss.
- To store in a refrigerator: Dig them up, cut off tops, leaving an inch or 2. Leave tap root intact. Wash and seal in a zip-top plastic bag with a damp paper-towel. Will keep 2 weeks or more in refrigerator.
- To store in garden: Leave in the garden bed & cover with 1-2 feet of straw. Dig up your root vegetables & use as needed all winter. **This may not work if you have an extreme climate – See your local extension office for more information pertaining to your area.
Happy Gardening!
XO,
Candi
